One of my favourite designs to date (shh, don’t tell the others!), the Tea Rose Shawlette is now available as a Ravelry download.
It first made its debut in the Smell the Roses club run by The Unique Sheep back in April. It uses just under 150g of yarn and is worked from the top down. Two sections of the lace have patterning on both sides, so this does require some attention, but there are simpler sections in between for a bit of a breather. The garter stitch edging is then knit on so there are no tight bind-offs to worry about. Stretch it to your heart’s content!

It is being modelled by one of my oldest friends (we’ve been best friends since we were like 10 years old!). We finally decided to just do this thing and actually meet up instead of always missing each other by about a month when visiting Finland. She lives in Ireland now so it’s fairly easy for us to travel to see each other. So she and another friend of ours came over for the weekend.
I think it’s been about four years since we got together. But it didn’t feel like it at all when we got together. We’re just so comfortable around each other that instead of waiting to be offered food or drink, we just wander into the kitchen and make it ourselves. Even if we’ve never been in that particular house before. It’s rare to find that nowadays I think.
We spent the weekend watching movies, shopping, eating Krispy Kreme doughnuts and feeding ducks at the park.
The ducks can be a bit unnerving. They come right up to you if they’re hungry and before you realize it, you’re surrounded by ducks and geese. I’ve never been attacked (*knocks on wood*), but I wouldn’t put it past them.

My dress for my co-worker’s wedding came today! I took a risk and went one size down from what I’d usually get. I’ve been losing weight recently and most of my current clothes are fairly baggy. But it came today and I tried it on and it fits! Thrilled to bits. I might even buy another from that shop in a different colour and print.

I don’t really talk about my weight online. I’ve always been on the heavy/chubby side. Yes, I exercise but it’s never really resulted in weight loss. I actually gained weight when I did the 30 Day Shred the first time. I don’t know if that was muscle or what, but the numbers on the scale went up a bit.
Back in June my knee really started to hurt whenever I ran. Sometimes even when I was just walking to work. So I had to stop running to give it a rest. I don’t have a gym membership. I don’t like working out with others around me. I prefer to go for hikes and runs by myself with only my iPod as company. But my knee put a halt to that three months ago.
For the first time, I decided to start counting calories. I figured that it couldn’t hurt and I needed to figure out a way to maintain my weight while being more sedentary. After a month of resting my knee, I can finally go on short runs again. Not running the full distance I used to, but it’s still better than not running at all. I love the feeling of flying I get on the final stretch of sprinting that I do. It helps that it’s a slight downhill. 😉
Three months later, I’ve lost over 20 lbs. And I fit into a dress size I didn’t think I’d ever wear.